


You Found Me

by SevenCandlesticks



Category: PRISTIN (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, Comedy, Gen, Silly, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:33:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21543976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SevenCandlesticks/pseuds/SevenCandlesticks
Summary: Minghao always finds Jieqiong when no one else is looking, no matter what, when, where, how, or why.
Relationships: Xu Ming Hao | The8 & Zhou Jie Qiong | Kyulkyung
Kudos: 4





	You Found Me

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Find Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20961167) by [CelesteFitzgerald](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelesteFitzgerald/pseuds/CelesteFitzgerald). 



“ _There you are!”_

This (annoying) miraculous habit of his could be traced all the way back to the time they had first met. The memory remained surprisingly vivid in her mind. After all, how could she ever forget?

Jieqiong had invited some friends to hang out at her apartment one evening. Those present were Kyla, a high-schooler Jieqiong cherished like a little sister, and Junhui—whom she soon regretted inviting for bringing over a friend without asking her explicit permission if he could bring a friend. That friend's name was Minghao.

Whilst her guests happily conversed, Jieqiong was feeling strangely fatigued and decided to slip into her room without telling anyone so she could take a little 'cat nap'. She turned off the lights and left her door open just a crack, hearing the voices of her guests babbling on about random nonsense and the occasional laughter erupting.

“I'm not missing anything,” she quietly told herself, yawning softly and dropping her head against the soft pile of pillows.

Less than a mere thirty-seconds, and the door immediately squeaked opened in time with a flick of the light switch. Jieqiong groaned, grabbing one of her pillows and covering her face with it as a means to shield the light from her eyes.

“There you are!” spoke a not-too-familiar male voice. “What are you doing in here? Ate too many cheese sticks?”

Jieqiong removed the pillow from her face and shot up in a sitting position, rubbing her eyes. “I just got tired, and you interrupted my nap. It's not that deep.” she turned her head to give her best scowl, but was surprised to see Minghao standing there. “What do you want, anyway?”

“You.”

“Gross.” she threw her pillow at him.

“H-Hey!” Minghao caught the pillow before it hit his face. “Keep your mind out of the gutter, it ain't what it sounds like.”

“Enlighten me.”

Minghao sighed, scratching the back of his head. “I was just worried that our hostess vanished without a trace. Forgive me for being a considerate human-being and making sure you weren't kidnapped.”

“Pfft... _ahahahaha!”_ Jieqiong threw her head back in laughter, almost falling off the bed. “That was dramatic.”

He shrugged. “Well, what else was I supposed to think?”

“Good point.”

“So...” Minghao leaned against the doorframe. “Are you coming back or what?”

“Hmmm....” she tapped her chin with her index finger, and then threw another pillow toward Minghao (which he promptly dodged). “Go away. I need to rest.”

“Aren't you being a little rude?”

“Not at all. This _is_ my home, after all.”

Jieqiong fell to her side so her back would be facing Minghao as she slipped under the covers in an attempt to resume her mini slumber. “Go ahead and raid the refrigerator or something,” she said, waving him away. “I'll be out when I'm ready.”

Minghao sighed. “If you say so.”

Closing the door, he flicked the light switch off and made sure to leave just a crack so she could hear everything going on outside.

A small smile curved upon Jieqiong's lips. Faintly, but still a smile.

Out of all her guests, a man who wasn't supposed to be here was the one that came to search for her. How amusing, she thought. Perhaps she could forgive Junhui—just this once. For if it wasn't for his carelessness, Jieqiong would never have met Minghao.

This was only the _first time_ he would find her.

* * *

During the last two weeks, Junhui has been inviting Minghao to all the get-togethers Jieqiong would arrange. And unlike the first offense, Jieqiong quit scolding Junhui and just came to _expect_ Minghao to come along. And at this point, Minghao became less of an acquaintance and more of a friend.

Today, they decided to go out to eat at Kyla's favorite restaurant in celebration of getting a perfect score on all of her final exams.

“To Kyla!” Junhui exclaimed, holding up a glass of water to hold a toast. Everyone lifted their cola, tea, whatever it was they were drinking—clinking their glasses together and immediately chowing down the food of victory.

“Order whatever you like, it's all on me.” Jieqiong told them.

Kyla put her hands together, bowing her head. “May your wallet rest in peace.”

The guys chuckled, but Jieqiong just rolled her eyes. “I have plenty of money; don't worry about it.”

If anything, Jieqiong was the one that ordered the most food—and soon regretted it. After gobbling up her fourth plate (and half a glass of soda), her tummy began to ache and she quickly excused herself 'lest she vomit all over the table.

One would assume the most logical thing to do would be to stroll over to the restroom, but Jieqiong walked right through the exit to find a bench she could lie down on. Fresh air was the fastest cure to nausea, and the moment her lungs pulled in that outdoor oxygen, she was already starting to feel a little better.

That was, until—

“There you are!” Minghao stared down at her face, a noticeably puzzled expression upon his. “What the hell are you doing, lying outside on a bench?”

Jieqiong just sighed. “Resting.”

“Out here?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you were feeling sick?”

Jieqiong sat up, sighing. “Yeah, I was. You got worried or something?”

“Yeah, Kyla was freaking out and said she couldn't find you. She only checked the bathroom though.” he admitted. “So I volunteered a solo search party, and lo and behold, you were out in plain sight. Customers could easily gaze at you sleeping from their windows.”

“No, they couldn't.” Jieqiong said with a roll of the eyes.

“Well _I_ could. Not sure why the others didn't.”

“I have such considerate friends.” Jieqiong commented, her face deadpan and her words laced with sarcasm. “I suppose we should go back?”

“Yeah.” Minghao nodded, stuffing a hand in one of his pant pockets. “Ready for dessert?”

“Ugh, don't even talk to me about food!”

That was the _second time_ Minghao had found her.

* * *

The third time it happened, a childish game of tag in the middle of a shopping mall turned into an epic challenge of hide-and-seek. Of course, Minghao found her every single time, no matter where Jieqiong hid—even if it was in a lingerie store.

Fourth time, fifth time, sixth time, seventh time—her memories aren't quite clear by this point, she was beginning to lose count honestly. But every single time, no matter what, where, when, how, and why—Minghao would always find her. On the top story of a building, to the depths of a parking garage, to a chance meeting on a train ride to the next city—as annoying as it was, he was always there, and she had come to _expect it._

Only this time, the _eighth time,_ Minghao would fail her expectations.

It was Kyla's graduation. Naturally, Jieqiong was invited to attend the ceremony and stay for the party. Honestly, if it was up to her, Jieqiong would've snuck out the back exit as soon as Kyla got her diploma, but Jieqiong wasn't going to have it her way.

What made things just that much more awkward was the fact Jieqiong, save for Kyla, knew absolutely _nobody._ Junhui couldn't come because he got a new job overseas, and Minghao's phone has been out of service for a month now. Even Junhui hasn't heard from him—then again, Junhui has been overseas for 4 months now, and he's the only one in direct contact with Minghao. Jieqiong never bothered knowing Minghao's address. She was beginning to think that was a mistake.

“There you are!”

Jieqiong was snapped out of her thoughts when Kyla, clad in her graduation robes, handed her a red plastic cup full of fruit punch. “I thought you might be thirsty.”

“Thanks,” Jieqiong faintly smiled, taking the cup with an immediate sip. She didn't want to admit it, but she was a little disappointed that it was Kyla that brought her the drink. Honestly, this was something Minghao should've—oh wait.

“Something wrong?” Kyla asked, tilting her head.

“Ah, no, not at all.” Jieqiong shook her head, forcing a smile.

Kyla giggled. “I'm going to talk to my classmates for a bit, but I'll be right back!”

Jieqiong nodded, watching as her friend ran to be with the rest of her class. She was proud of Kyla; she genuinely was. Seeing her run around in that cap and gown was a beautiful sight. So Jieqiong couldn't help but despise this selfish feeling bubbling up inside of her—a feeling of, well, _loneliness._ There was no need to feel lonely when Kyla was here, her friend.

Only Kyla wasn't here. Not at the moment.

Jieqiong was standing apart from a crowd of people she didn't know, all by herself. And since she was a bit older than them, it's not like they would be too enthusiastic to try and be her friend. Besides, it was _their day_ too—graduation. They're gonna want to mingle with their own group, just like Kyla.

Taking another swig of the punch Kyla brought her, Jieqiong stared down to the bottom of the cup and sighed to find it empty. The loud _boom boom_ noise from all the music being pumped up way too loud was starting to give Jieqiong a headache (as well as get on her nerves).

She needed to get out of there, just for a moment. Like all the other times she'd randomly vanish without telling anyone. It'd be fine anyway; Minghao would probably just volunteer himself to—

Jieqiong halted.

The sound of the music sounded distant and distorted as she walked down the dimly lit hallway of Kyla's high school.

“Minghao's not here.” she said to herself.

Another sigh.

“He's not.... here.” she reminded herself. “He won't find you.”

She wiped the side of her face when she felt warm tears roll off her cheek. _Pathetic,_ she thought. _Incredibly pathetic._

Steadying her breathing, Jieqiong continued down the conveniently badly lit hallway, the noise from the party getting further and the sound of her heels echoing louder. Her pace suddenly quickened; she was running. She didn't want anyone to see her, not like this.

Finally, she turned a corner and settled for huddling up at the end of a row of lockers. She hugged her knees and tried to scold herself for acting so stupid, but she had to accept the reality that she really missed Minghao. Paranoid thoughts struck her brain, thinking up a lot of crazy scenarios on what could have possibly happened to him. Her mind could've descended deeper into madness had her cellphone not started ringing.

Letting out an embarrassing squeak (and nearly dropping her phone), Jieqiong managed a stoic face and a calm demeanor when answering. “Hello?”

“Jieqiong!”

That voice....

“Minghao?!”

“Okay good, this isn't the wrong number. Yeah, so, ummm... this is gonna sound crazy, but I had lost my phone and the battery died. There was no way I could locate it because the battery was just dead. I had looked everywhere, so I eventually gave up and just got a new phone. Unfortunately, I didn't memorize a lot of numbers, so....” he trailed off, probably to scratch the back of his neck like he always does. “Anyway, I got my new phone today and I am so glad you picked up, I didn't think you would recognise my number... well you wouldn't, the phone is new.”

“I didn't bother looking at the caller ID.” she admitted.

“Oh, well... that's good, at least for me. Hahaha!”

“But wait—if you lost your phone, how'd you know my number?”

“That's the funny part....” Jieqiong could tell by the tone of his voice it wasn't really funny, but she continued to listen. “I found it.”

“You what?”

“My previous phone. It fell behind my bed. It was behind my bed this whole time! I just spent a fortune on this damn—anyway, I found it. I charged it up, and then I found your number.”

“You did.” Jieqiong laughed slightly, rubbing the tears out of her eyes. “You found me.”

“Huh?”

She was wrong; Minghao did not fail her expectations. He exceeded them.

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to be totally unoriginal and make another "parody" version of one of my friend's gift stories to me, lol. Though oddly enough, said story was a very specific prompt I actually gave her, 'cause at the time I had trouble working with the idea myself. Anyway, although a bit messy, this was fun to write and I generally like how it turned out. "Find Me" was a very precious written gift to me, so although this is a technical "parody" of it, I still wanted it to capture that meaningful feeling of someone always being able to find you, and appreciating it when you need it most ^^
> 
> Title is my favorite song by Kelly Clarkson.


End file.
